It fascinates me how many different forms of entertainment there were before the internet and video games. There were puzzles, board games, physical activities outside, sports, card games, etc…

However, despite significant advances in technology many people continue on with the old traditions and  play board games to this day. A few of my friends and I are some of those people. We typically try to play one of he most classical strategic board games of all time where there is a minimum of 2 hours of game time.

That game is Risk. Recently on the iPhone, many newer style games have been released alongside a lot of board games which were made in the app store originally. Recently they have come out with Risk and in honor of our game nights I would like to review Risk, the application.

Review:

The gameplay is exactly what you would expect from a Risk computer game. Very simple to understand and very long and drawn out, depending on how daring you are with your soldiers and how much luck you have dictates your outcome.

The game is segmented just like the board game. First you pick your color and difficulty and then you select your countries. Following the territory selection you start playing the traditional strategy game.

However, you don’t have little pieces of horses, soldiers and cannons that represents the amount of soldiers. It’s Just a map with numbers on each of the territories with a color.

Now in attack mode you can roll your dice or nuke them. Personally I feel that the defense die have a advantage because it seems they constantly roll 6’s. I just nuke the territory I’m attacking, which subtracts the amount they have from the amount of soldiers your attacking with.

Once you get later in the game your soldier count on each territory is so high that it takes too long to pull the dice out, so nuke them. After attacking them you can draft soldiers to any territory from any pre-existing territory that you own with more than one soldier on it. The game takes a long time but without the setup of the board game and a lot more stylish representation.

So far the only multiplayer component is a pass and play and a bluetooth style with your friends. The game is really brought down because of this. I would love to play people through 3G, but until then I’ll have to settle with the computer.

Final Words:

If you love Risk, or board games in general, then take a “risk” and get the game. It’s a satisfying time killer and true to the board game but without the annoying setup involved. The only complaint that I have is no 3G or wifi multiplayer as of yet.

Pros:

• True to its name
• Great time killer
• No glitches or crashing
• No setup or reading directions required

Cons:

• No 3G or WiFi multiplayer
• Defensive Dice seem biased and roll 6’s way to much

Score: 7.0/10 (Average)